OP by The Mayor of Simpleton

Courtesy link to the oldest version of the page on the Internet Archive.

The problem: Canada Eh is a trope about various different stereotypical portrayals of Canadians that originate from their neighbor, the United States. Per the description:

And so on. Unfortunately, the vague name has led to numerous examples that are merely references to Canada or Canadians as characters, the setting, etc. An ATT about this trope raised concerns, and I decided to do a wick check (with the help of Yindee and 𝕋𝕒𝕓𝕤) to see if there was indeed a misuse problem.

Wick check: Link here, but here's the quick results:

• 18/50 wicks dealt with characters or settings employing common (American) stereotypes of Canada, or 36%
• 21/50 wicks were just references to characters or settings happening to be Canada/ian, or 42%,
• 3/50 wicks concerned other use, or 6%,
• 6/50 wicks were zero-context or unclear, or 12%, and
• 2/50 wicks were unclassifiable, or 4%

Totaling correct and incorrect use together, that's

• 18/50 correct use, or 36%, and
• 30/50 incorrect use, or 60%

Analysis: So there were a lot of correct examples, which rules out a disambig or cut. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of misuse, with "X character/setting is Canadian" making up a lot of the use. A few examples were also of non-American stereotypes of Canadians. Thankfully, though, the zero-context example count was lower than I expected.

Possible solution: I recommend a rename of this trope to make it clearer that this is a stereotype trope. While I like the name Canada Eh, I believe it is contributing to the "Canadians exist" potholes. Not sure what name to use—something like Hockey And Maple Syrup, a la the also-renamed Spaghetti and Gondolas? Couldn't come up with much else.

What does everyone else think? Any other ideas or suggestions?

1. Characters.A League Of Their Own 2022: Jess is from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She's a competent outdoorsman (implied to have survived several boat sinkings) and often shares characteristically rural aphorisms. Stereotypically Canadian character.
2. ComicBook.Uncanny X Men: Captain Ethnic: Storm and Wolverine were the least defined by their nationality, with the former’s pan-African upbringing (she was born in Harlem, spent her early years in Cairo after her parents deaths as a pickpocket before traveling to her mother’s homeland in Kenya) and latter’s Canadian nationality only coming up as plotpoints and not character markers. Of course, whenever Logan does end up in Canada he typically runs into Alpha Flight, a team of nothing but Captain Ethnic representatives of Canada Eh. Stereotypically Canadian characters
3. Creator.Allison Pregler: While reviewing Teen Sorcery after hearing Michael's pronunciation of "sorry". Allison, dressed in winter wear, says "I'm definitely not Canadian."
4. Funny.The Super Hero Squad Show: Pretty much all of "Too Many Wolverines!", which features a Mythology Gag to Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Thor suggesting that the clones would explain how Wolverine appears in so many comics every month, and the Wolverine clones being attracted to Canadian bacon and hockey sticks.
5. Roleplay.Trustfell Round Six: Tabby assumes that Estelle must be from Canada because she's very polite and Apologizes a Lot. Canadian stereotypes
6. Series.The Pentaverate: The various Canadian characters speak in exaggerated Canadian accents, have a love of hockey, over-pronounce Canada-isms ("aboot") and apologize ("soorry") a lot.
7. UsefulNotes.Ice Hockey: In the Discworld of A.A. Pessimal, the, er, Acerian immigrant Antoinette de Badin-Boucher arrives in Ankh-Morpork as a student at the Assassins' School, to discover to her disgust that while the weather might get cold and wet, it very rarely gets cold and wet enough for proper hockey. The version played running around a cold muddy field without ice skates on is not to her taste or inclination. She fears the ice-skates and protective clothing she has brought with her are going to be useless baggage. Then she discovers the Pork Futures Warehouse and regularly breaks in to practice real hockey and skating. Scroll forward by ten years and she is a graduate and a teaching assistant at the School. By this story, she has worked out a deal with the PFW's owners to use a hitherto wasted space for recreation. Fellow Acerians and, er, Swommi people flock to pay for admission. Both to particpate in, or to spectate, mass brawls on ice with lots of applied violence, and perhaps a little actual hockey in between fights. Thus, with a sort of Canadian-like people in town, Ankh-Morpork gets its first dedicated ice-hockey and skating venue. Fantasy Counterpart Canadian is hockey-obsessed
8. Right for the Wrong Reasons: During the Game Grumps review of Punch-Out!! on Wii they remark that the developers can't be accused of racism because they, as a Japanese team, put in the self-deprecating Piston Hondo. They're right that such an accusation would hold little merit, but it's because of Bear Hugger as the game (Just the Wii version specifically) was made by Canadian developers Next Level Gaming Inc. In fact, they went out of their way to pick Bear Hugger as the only character to return from Super Punch Out!!. Refers to a character who is a walking Canadian stereotype. Even the name is a clear indicator.
9. Funny.Todd In The Shadows One Hit Wonderland 2014: "Yeah, the '90s were a good time for rapid fire, hard-to-karaoke pop jams, but even people who can do 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)' from memory without stuttering don't dare to take on 'Informer'. Not only does it go faster than Sonic the Hedgehog on cocaine, the words themselves didn't seem to make any sense. People might have assumed it was 'cause the song was from some foreign country, and they would be right, although that country was a little further north that they realize. They probably expected this to be from some dreadlocked Rasta, not a guy who looked like a forgotten 90210 cast member. And his name was Snow, for God's sakes. It was like he went, 'what's a name that'll get across as quickly as possible that I'm white and Canadian? Snow! Of course!'" Canada having a lot of/mostly snow is a stereotype of the country.
10. PhineasAndFerb.Tropes D To I: In "Sidetracked" when Perry is pursuing the robbers to the Canadian border, the gate above the border announces "Welcome to Canada" followed by a small font "eh". The "eh" thing is a valid stereotype.
11. ReplacementScrappy.Live Action TV: At the beginning of season 4 on Little Mosque on the Prairie, Reverend Magee, who isn't entirely competent but at least tries to be a Good Shepherd, is Put on a Bus and replaced by Reverend Thorne, who is like a more Affably Evil Sinister Minister (it's Canada Eh, so he's more polite about it). Many of the fans who liked the lighthearted exchanges between Amaar and Duncan were not very happy. The Canadians are polite thing is a stereotype.
12. Series.Shameless US: In Season 1, after his usual drinking session, Frank wakes up the next morning in Toronto. The scene features a gratuitous use of a Mounty on a horse wearing full ceremonial uniform in downtown Toronto. Later, in Season 8, Frank goes through a brief arc where he opens a business buying cheap medicine from Canadian pharmacies for Southside customers along with a little human smuggling. These are valid stereotypes.
13. Series.The Librarians 2014 (1): In "And Santa's Midnight Run", the team have to get a plane from a Canadian airport. The man at the desk says "eh" at the end of his sentences. This is funnier as Lindy Booth is in fact Canadian. References Canadian stereotypes.
14. Recap.The Loud House S 6 E 20 The Loud Cloud You Auto Know Better: When Lincoln and Lisa demonstrate using the Loud Cloud as a TV remote, the TV is playing a "Canadian Cook-off" TV show, with the chef wearing a toque and using maple syrup. Canadian stereotypes used.
15. Recap.How I Met Your Mother S 5 E 05 Duel Citizenship: The night before her citizenship test, Robin gets drunk at the Hoser Hut and ends up traveling to Toronto. When Barney tracks her down, they go to a Tim Horton's where Robin feels alienated by everyone's friendliness and hockey references, making her question if she's even a real Canadian anymore after living in America so long. Canadian stereotypes used.
16. Literature.Blue Moose: The book takes place in Canada and features laconic Canadian woodsmen and a moose as a main character. That sounds like Canadian stereotypes to me.
17. Music.Michael Buble: A wonderful bit of stereotyping made real: while on a tour of the UK, he played some ice hockey with some professional British ice hockey players, and turned out to be better than all of them at it. Stereotypes employed.
18. TheSimpsons.Tropes N To R: Played for Laughs in "Midnight Rx" when the up to that point friendly and personal Canadian Border Patrol aggressive react upon mistaking Apu for a vocal Muslim (Apu had burned his tongue on Ned's coffee causing him to start ululating, so Ned wraps a towel around his head to cool him off), with multiple agents pulling guns on them. To hammer it home, the same agents behave much more reasonably and professionally when they discover the group are really smuggling prescription drugs. Stereotypes seem to be employed.

    Border Guard: Stop him! He's expressing his faith, eh!

1. ActorAllusion.Western Animation: Said host's name is Alan Quebec, both rhyming with Alex’s name and punning on Alex being Canadian. Character happens to be Canadian.
2. TheAllegedCar.Real Life: While the third-generation Vauxhall Viva performed reliably in its own market, it quickly gained notoriety in North America for its disastrous attempted export it to Canada through GM in The '70s. GM called it the "Firenza" and marketed it as a "tough little fun car". But it was downright dangerous with brake failures, accelerator pedals getting stuck, total steering failure, parts falling off, and engine fires. GM tried to salvage the car's reputation by driving four Firenzas from Halifax to Vancouver in the dead of Winter in order to demonstrate that they were ideal for cold, tough Canadian conditions; even though the cars had been modified with block heaters for the trip (which GM claimed they didn't have), two of them still had trouble starting and one of them caught fire. Canadian weather
3. Characters.Nnemonic: Would usually bring up his Canadian heritage now and then. Character is just Canadian.
4. Characters.Super Charisma Bros Canada Eh: The only Canadian member of the gang.
5. Fanfic.Dawn Comes On The Sunset Sea: The main part of the CAN is made of up of Canadians, though there are also members from Finland and several other Arctic nations (hence the name).
6. Literature.Surfacing 1972: The book is set in northern Quebec. We're sometimes shown some titles written in French.
7. Quotes.Inhuman Resources: speaker is Canadian
   In the United States, organized crime is called "cosa nostra". Up here it's called "the Human Resources Department".
   — Comedian Dave Broadfoot
8. VideoGame.Until Dawn: The game takes place in the Canadian Rockies of western Alberta. The main characters, though, are all American, specifically from Los Angeles, California.
9. WesternAnimation.Loopy De Loop: Loopy talks in a French Canadian accent.
10. Characters.Mad Men Sterling Cooper Draper Pyce: She's French-Canadian from Montreal. Her nationality is alluded to/joked about a few times, though language lessons have hidden her accent. Since stereotypes are not mentioned, as written this is "character is Canadian" as written.
11. TheyChangedItNowItSucks.Music: Oh boy, what Rush suffered from 1982's Signals to 1991's Roll The Bones is a story of its own. They just released their most successful album a year earlier with 1981's Moving Pictures and Geddy Lee said the band could have simply followed up with "Moving Pictures Part 2" and be happy with it, but they wanted to experiment with a new sound. What did they do? Release Signals and incorporate synth-rock and new wave elements into their music, receiving very mixed reviews from the fans at the time who were expecting their next record to be just as rocking as the last. Their continued to evolve the synth-rock and new wave elements with 1984's Grace Under Pressure, 1985's Power Windows, and 1987's Hold Your Fire, but they also started incorporating pop-rock into their music as well, all while still keeping progressive elements in the mix. Many fans felt Grace Under Pressure and Power Windows were good improvements (finding a balance between guitars and keyboards), but by Hold Your Fire many fans absolutely hated the record at the time for its 1980's pop music sound, having "too much filler", and that Lee was spending way too much time on the keyboards that were drowing out Alex Lifeson's, who was play more background textured parts and later expressed some frustration of having to work around the keyboards. Fans at this point thought Rush was going to be Canada's equivalent to what Genesis and Yes were doing in the at the time (going from writing prog-rock epics in the '70s to MTV pop hits in the '80s), but in their 1989 album Presto, the synths were in the background instead and the guitar was back playing actual riffs. Many fans rejoiced, but still felt the albums didn't have a "hard enough" sound to it and it was still was stuck in a pop-rock style. Roll The Bones in 1991 was worse, mainly due to the infamous "rap" from a pitched-altered Geddy Lee on the title track and the album still having a thin, pop sound. But when 1993's Counterparts came out, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire producer Peter Collins (who was partially responsible for those albums incorporating pop elements and more keyboards) was brought back, now with a experienced resume from working with metal bands such as Queensrÿche and engineer for the record was future Iron Maiden producer Kevin Shirley, who pushed Rush to record the album with a heavier sound to prevent the thin sound Presto and Roll The Bones had. The album was critically acclaimed by critics and fans, many calling it their best record since Moving Pictures. The album was also was smash hit, charting at #2 on Billboard (only behind V by Pearl Jam), tied with 2012's Clockwork Angels for their highest charting album in the US. Rush was finally back to many fans who may have been disappointed with their '80s and '90s output. Pothole just says they're Canadian.
12. UsefulNotes.Current People To Know In MLB: Joey Votto is the Cincinnati Reds' first baseman. The Canadian was on almost everyone's short list of the best hitters in baseball from his 2010 MVP season to 2018 or so, although he also somehow manages to be a bit more obscure and underrated than one would expect. He ends up in debates about sabermetrics a lot, thanks to his high walk totals that have given him a career .412 on-base percentage; he had the highest OBP of any active player until age-related decline took Mike Trout past him in 2022. Because of his great plate discipline and frequent walks, some, including his former manager Dusty Baker, have criticized him for not being aggressive enough and not driving in enough runs for a middle-of-the-order hitter, even though he usually puts up decent RBI totals and has hit 100 RBIs twice. In addition, as sabermetricians will point out, he probably contributes more runs by getting on base as often as possible at the cost of a few home runs rather than swinging for the fences on pitches well outside the strike zone like some seem to want him to, and his RBIs are largely dependent on the hitters before him getting on anyway. Sadly, his formerly prodigious hitting has declined a bit in recent years as he's gotten older. After a temporary benching midway through 2020's 60-game sprint, he decided to change his approach. After previously focusing on plate discipline at the sacrifice of power, he began to focus on power while sacrificing plate discipline, leading to more offensive production. Votto was named NL Player of the Month for July 2021 after setting the league on fire, setting a franchise record by hitting home runs in 7 straight games from July 24-30^note and nearly tied the Major League record of 8 (Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly, Dale Long) were it not for the slightly taller outfield fence at New York's Citi Field. A hit that would likely have been a homr run at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park bounced off the top of the wall for a long single at Citi., including two back-to-back two homer games for 9 total dingers in the stretch for 11 overall in the month. Pothole just says they're Canadian.
13. VideoGame.SOMA: Simon is Torontonian and the prologue is set there as well. Character just happens to be Canadian.
14. VideoGame.X Com Apocalypse: The game follows Mega-Primus, the first of these cities, built over the ruins of Toronto, Canada. Setting just happens to be Canada.
15. TheInfiniteLoops.Loops N To Z: Apparently Obi-Wan is fond of Canada and prefers it to the United States. Just a reference to Canada with no mention of stereotypes.
16. Series.The Librarians 2014 (2): Averted during "And the Fangs of Death". Despite being in a Canadian military base, none of the soldiers follow any stereotypically Canadian behaviour. Then they're just regular Canadians. Probably invalid use of Averted Trope to begin with.
17. Narm.Advertising: In 2009, an Alberta based carpeting company called End of the Roll issued a series of ads with images of people buying carpets, laying down carpets, people smiling over their carpets and what not. The song in the background is "The Look" by Roxette. Furthermore the ads having the over-excited narrator saying "Give your house... THE LOOK!!!!" followed by "Na na na na na, she's got the look..." just heightened the narm up to 11. Just a reference to Canada existing.
18. Manchild.Western Animation: Moonbeam City: Canadian-born police officer Rad Cunningham. So. Very. Much, to the point that it actually becomes weaponized by several characters in multiple episodes in order to resolve the plot. As written, just references them being Canadian.
19. Literature.Arms Of Love: Subverted. The work is set in Saskatoon, but other than this fact being mentioned in passing, the story could be set in any suburban city. So then it just happens to be in Canada.
20. Podcast.Random Assault: Kate is the Canadian member of the cast. Character just happens to be Canadian.
21. WebAnimation.Burger Brawl: The opening joke in "Rocking Around the Burger King" has Brigid convincing Cole, a Canadian, about this trope and therefore he shouldn't too. This promptly makes Cole disappear out of existence before 10 brings him back. Just references a character being Canadian.

1. Mister Muffykins: Sister America in Scandinavia and the World has a small brown lapdog named Ottawa. That she carries on her head. Referencing the stereotype that Canada is America's lapdog—not necessarily an American stereotype of Canada.
2. Characters.The West Wing: Everyone (including her) is shocked to learn that she's technically Canadian thanks to a border clarification shifting her hometown from Minnesota to Manitoba. She immediately becomes concerned over all of the times she's made fun of the queen, saying "we don't do that". Josh finds a grandfather clause which allows her to return to her US citizenship, but not before Abbey Bartlet sets up a display of the Canadian national anthem in her honor. Since these aren't necessarily stereotypes, this is misuse. Putting it in other.
3. Recap.Mystery Science Theater 3000 S 09 E 06 The Space Children: Mike and the 'bots conjecture that the blob overlooks Canada in its attempt at forced disarmament, leaving the world quaking under a Canadian hegemony. This doesn't refer to a specific stereotype or stereotypes. Misuse.

1. Characters.Dark Match All references on the page are trope-name only ZCEs or potholes to "Canada".
2. Characters.WWE New Generation: ZCE commented out
3. Music.Excision Musician: Canada Eh Trope-name only ZCE.
4. WebVideo.Avatar The Abridged Series: Lieutenant Jee.
   Zuko: "Jee, your accent is ruining our image!" Quote-as-context ZCE.
5. Series.Bosom Buddies: "Buffy" and "Hildegarde" introduce themselves to the people of the hotel claiming to be from Saskatchewan. Their description of their upbringing is wildly inaccurate because they're actually from Ohio.^note For example, they claim that they knew lumberjacks in the province; Saskatchewan is almost entirely flat prairie land. Unclear. Not enough context to tell if Canadian stereotypes are being employed.
6. Series.My Babysitters A Vampire: Most characters have noticeable Canadian raising, and Ontario license plates are clearly visible. "Noticeable Canadian raising" is too vague to glean context from. Unclear.

1. EdEddNEddy.Tropes Q To Z: For those who don't get it, the show itself was created by Canadians. attached to dialogue about "Canadian squirt guns" and Canadians being weird
2. IReadThatAs.G To M JFF page.